Answered By: Monique Ritchie

Last Updated: 15 Dec, 2014Views: 91

There are a number of open access requirements which you may have to comply with depending on your circumstances. All staff are affected by Brunel's open access policy and HEFCE's policy on open access for the Research Excellence Framework (REF). If you are funded by Research Councils UK (RCUK) there are additional requirements as a condition of funding.

Brunel's open access requirements

The University encourages all staff to publish research outputs via open access mechanisms to maximise the visibility and impact of their research and facilitate compliance with funder policies.

Publications should correctly attribute the University as follows: Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH. Further guidance is given in the Open Access Policy contained in the Research Integrity Code.

HEFCE open access requirements

Upon acceptance for publication, all staff should upload the final peer-reviewed text of all journal articles and conference proceedings to the staff publications database, BRAD and confirm deposit in the institutional repository (BURA), subject to embargo. Articles which are not deposited in the BURA upon acceptance will not be eligible for assessment by HEFCE in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF). This applies to all articles accepted on or after 1 April 2016.

RCUK open access requirements

If you receive funding from a UK Research Council (RCUK), all your journal articles and conference proceedings with a publication date on or after 1 April 2013 must be uploaded to BRAD and made available in BURA for you and the University to remain eligible for future funding, subject to publisher embargo.

Students who publish jointly with Brunel academic staff or are on an RCUK funded studentship are expected to comply with this policy. The Brunel academic author is responsible for uploading the research output to BRAD and BURA.

Checking acceptable embargo periods and journal compliance

Many publisher embargoes are not compliant with RCUK or HEFCE policies, so researchers are advised to consider open access options carefully when selecting a publisher, including suitable Green (free) or Gold (pay to publish) open access routes.

The maximum acceptable embargo period varies by Research Council, and can be as short as six months for some (eg EPSRC) and is generally up to 12 months, before the full text must be accessible in BURA. HEFCE's maximum acceptable embargo periods vary from 12-24 months by REF panel.

If you are funded by a UK Research Council you can use the SHERPA/FACT: Funders and Authors Compliance Tool to check a publisher's compliance with your funder's policy. If you are publishing traditionally, you can use SHERPA-RoMEO to check embargo periods and your publisher's policy on self-archiving, a Green open access route.

If your journal is not compliant, it may offer a Gold Open Access option. You can apply to the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund in advance, to cover the publication fees.

If your research article is already published and you are not sure whether you are compliant, please deposit the final peer-reviewed author version of your paper in BRAD, and submit it to BURA, for review by the Research Publications team. All items are checked for compliance with publisher's copyright policies and embargo periods before they appear in BURA. If you think you have chosen the wrong mode of publication, please let us know as quickly as possible, as we may be able to rectify it.

For more information on open access compliance and publishing, see the links below or contact the Open Access Officer, Library Research Support Services.